"Mum" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... had once come upon a humble little tumble-bug, striving to push a ball four times as big as himself up a forlorn road, at a point where there was a "thank-you-mum," intended to throw the water aside during a heavy rain, and save the road from ...
— The Boy Scouts in the Maine Woods - The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol • Herbert Carter
... t' mopes, an' what he wants is his libbaty an' coompany like t' rest on us, wal happen a rat or two 'ud liven him oop. It's low, mum,' says I,'is rats, but it's t' nature of a dog; an' soa's cuttin' round an' meetin' another dog or two an' passin' t' time o' day. an' hevvin' a bit of a turn-up ...
— Soldiers Three • Rudyard Kipling
... which at first could not be safely ignored for a single instant night or day, should survive the multitudinous perils that surrounded it. But it did survive, and it became an intelligence. At eighteen months the intelligence could walk, sit up, and say 'Mum.' These performances were astounding. And the fact that fifty thousand other babies of eighteen months in London were similarly walking, sitting up, and saying 'Mum,' did not render these performances any the less astounding. And when, half a year later, the child could point to a letter ...
— A Great Man - A Frolic • Arnold Bennett
... me half a sovereign for something I want really badly, but he can give seven-and-sixpence to a dirty old woman for a sight of all that muck!" Snatching one of the letters off the table, she began reading aloud: "My dear Mum, I hope that this finds you as well as it does me. We are giving it to the Allemans, as they call them out here, right in the neck." She waved the sheet she was reading and exclaimed, "And then comes four lines so scrubbed about ...
— Good Old Anna • Marie Belloc Lowndes
... Jack Curran." While he was engaged in the study of the law, and still struggling to overcome his defect, he was stung into eloquence by the sarcasms of a member of a debating club, who characterised him as "Orator Mum;" for, like Cowper, when he stood up to speak on a previous occasion, Curran had not been able to utter a word. The taunt stung him and he replied in a triumphant speech. This accidental discovery in himself of the gift of eloquence encouraged ...
— Self Help • Samuel Smiles
... "Keep mum," 'Frisco Kid whispered to him while the irate Frenchman was busy fastening the painter. "Don't talk back. Let him say all he wants to, and keep quiet. It 'll be ...
— The Cruise of the Dazzler • Jack London
... Whitecup after getting him roaring full hoping he would squeal what bait he used—but he was tight as a tick and mum as ...
— Black Beaver - The Trapper • James Campbell Lewis
... mum about it till you play your hand; is that it?" asked the wondering and awestruck Bandy-legs, at the ...
— In Camp on the Big Sunflower • Lawrence J. Leslie
... slowly. "I guess I ver' foolish," she murmured. She waited, obviously to give him a chance to speak. He was mum. ...
— The Fur Bringers - A Story of the Canadian Northwest • Hulbert Footner
... understanding, all heads popped up like so many frisking fish. They darted from bed and commenced in the middle of the chamber, a great pillow-fight amicable and hurtless, but furiously waged, till the approach of a broad footstep sent them scampering back to their couches, mum as mice. Mopsey, well aware of these frisks, tarried till they were blown over, in her own chamber hard by, a dark room, mysterious to the fancy of the children, with spinning wheels, dried gourd-shells hung against the wall, a lady's riding-saddle, ...
— Chanticleer - A Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody Family • Cornelius Mathews
... "No, mum," he replied. "It's yours all right. I found it at the shore where a freightin' team left it. I don't generally carry such things. But says I to myself, 'That's fer Widder Bean, and she's goin' to have it to-night ...
— Under Sealed Orders • H. A. Cody
... bluff old Sir Geoffrey loved brandy and mum well, And to see a beer-glass turned over the thumb well; But he fled like the wind, before Fairfax and Cromwell, Which nobody ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott
... of findin' him, mum," said that individual. "Well, sir, there's no one else I could make ...
— A Little Bush Maid • Mary Grant Bruce
... an' that hivenly hair, it's welcome ye air to yer notions! But, hist! Ye have talked too brash to the Sister Superior. Ye air that innocent, puir thing! But, mind your tongue, honey. Tell your funny notions to old Katie, an' they'll be safe as the soul of Saint Patrick; but keep mum before ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking
... Mum's the word! I gotta be careful. I can't say nothin'; I don't pretend to know nothin'. But I kept my eyes open pretty wide, I tell you. There's detectives workin', too. I been to Wehrhahn, too, an' he told me ...
— The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann - Volume I • Gerhart Hauptmann
... at her death:—for, among friends" (here he lowered his voice, and looked round the kitchen), "she was very whimsical, expensive, ill-tempered, and, I'm afraid, a little—upon the— flightly order—a little touched or so;—but mum for that—the lady is now dead; and it is my maxim, de mortuis nil nisi bonum. The young squire was even then very handsome, and looked remarkably well in his weepers; but he had an awkward air and shambling gait, stooped mortally, and was so shy and silent ...
— The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves • Tobias Smollett
... "I vant to see vat's to be done," she continued, "because I must give yer a 'arty lift him a jiffy and be back to my children hagain." Then going to the sick woman she took her hand and felt her pulse. "'Ow do yer find yerself, mum?" she asked. ...
— Without a Home • E. P. Roe
... "Sit down, mum," said she. "This isn't much of a kitchen, for I haven't had time to clane it up, an' as for me, I'm not much of a cook, nather; for when ye have to be iverything, ye can't be anything to ...
— The Girl at Cobhurst • Frank Richard Stockton
... at her sewing, some one knocked at the door, and who should come in, but the fat cook, with a great goose, fatter than she was; who cried out: 'Only see what a big goost, mum; and only you and Miss Edith to eat it; besides a beef-steak to brile, ...
— The Little Nightcap Letters. • Frances Elizabeth Barrow
... the third great Saturday. Carefully washed and brushed, they sat in their separate day-rooms, and waited. Two o'clock struck, but no message came. All the afternoon they waited, sick with disappointment and loneliness. At last, seeing the matron go by, Alfred said: "Please, mum, my mother ...
— Essays in Rebellion • Henry W. Nevinson
... Item, in Masterton's with G. Gibson, 31 shilling. Item, to Will. Sutherland, a mark. For G. Burnet's reply and conferences, 3 shillings. To Mr. Mathew Ramsay's nurse, a dollar. For a pint of win their, 24 shilings. For copieng a paper, 40 shiling. Item, for mum and walnuts, 9 pence. Item, at the kirk door, 6 pence. Item, for win and sugar, 7 pence. Given to my wife for furniture to my cloaths and hir oune goune, 5 dollars. Item, in Haliburton's for mum, 22 shiling. Item, upon seck, 9 shiling. Item, ...
— Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36 • Sir John Lauder
... mum; this clay's that stiff! Lord! folks is almost as much trouble to them as buries as to them as bears 'em; it's all trouble together, ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird
... period of her narrative the gentlemen came into the drawing-room. "But here comes Sir Benjamin! mum, mum! not a word more for my life! You understand, Lady Cecilia! husbands must be minded. And let me whisper a favour—a whist-party I must beg; nothing keeps Sir Ben in good-humour so certainly as whist—when ...
— Helen • Maria Edgeworth
... should just see the pile of men that came in to lunch here today—just to have a look at her. The story of her glory has gone forth. She came over to our table and asked if we minded if she sat with us, and then she wound her lovely manners all around mother so that mum thinks she's a dream and an angel. But I don't cotton to her much, Gay—and I can feel she doesn't like me, either, though she was as sweet as honey. My dear, she will nobble all our men—I feel it ...
— Blue Aloes - Stories of South Africa • Cynthia Stockley
... cases," I said, "where Air Force Intelligence is supposed to have warned pilots to keep mum. Two of the reports come ...
— The Flying Saucers are Real • Donald Keyhoe
... a-goin' to give you warning this very day, mum, to leave at the end of my month, so I was - on account of me being going to make a respectable young man happy. A gamekeeper he is by trade, mum - and I wouldn't deceive you - of the name of Beale. And it's as true as ...
— Five Children and It • E. Nesbit
... mur'der pru'dent ju'ror mut'ter mur'mur fru'gal tu'mor rud'der tur'ban tru'ly stu'por shut'ter tur'nip tru'ant tu'tor suf'fer tur'key cru'et cu'rate sup'per pur'port bru'in lu'cid mum'my curl'y dru'id stu'dent mus'ket fur'ry ru'in stu'pid num'ber fur'nish ru'by lu'nar nut'meg cur'vet bru'tal tu'mult stut'ter ...
— McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book • W. H. McGuffey
... looks significant, Are very apt to tell strange tales to me. I once was young, so you will therefore grant I should know something of what youths still want When they to such sweet girls quite bashful come, And utter words as if their stock was scant. Well, 'tis but natural, and I would be mum; Of bliss thus sought and gained 'twere hard ...
— The Emigrant Mechanic and Other Tales In Verse - Together With Numerous Songs Upon Canadian Subjects • Thomas Cowherd
... and streaming eyes, but when she saw Nan she forgot about her own cold, and said that Nan must go to bed at once, and have something warm to drink, and put a nice hot-water bottle between the sheets. For a long time Nan said that nothing would make her go to bed, but at last mum, who is very sweet, and of whom Nan is really quite afraid, persuaded her to lie down, and herself brought up a ...
— The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 • Various
... say nothing to her, since she says nothing to me. If 'mum's' the word I can use it as well ...
— Veronica And Other Friends - Two Stories For Children • Johanna (Heusser) Spyri
... 'Very sorry, mum, but it's clean agin' the law of England. Give me a warrant, and in I come. If you will bring her to the doorstep, I will be ...
— A Duet • A. Conan Doyle
... here? Our prodigal son returned, with his pockets full of nuggets from the diggings. Oh, mum's the word, is it?" as Tom laid his finger on his lips. "Come here, then, and let's have a look at you!" and he catches both Tom's hands in his, and almost shakes them off. "I knew you were coming, old boy! Mary told me—she's in all the old man's secrets. Come along, Mary, and see your ...
— Two Years Ago, Volume II. • Charles Kingsley
... "Mum!" said Peter. "I forgot; but don't it look as if the river was boiling hot and the steam rising, and the fire that hots it was shining up through the cloud? I say, nobody could hear me ...
— Trapped by Malays - A Tale of Bayonet and Kris • George Manville Fenn
... dudes get me out of this," the tramp told himself. "Maybe their folks will pay me handsomely to keep mum and take what's coming to me. That's ...
— Guns And Snowshoes • Captain Ralph Bonehill
... here, if you want to keep out of trouble, you must keep perfectly dark about this matter. It's being sifted on the quiet, and they'd take it very ill at headquarters if one of the guards was to "leak" on them, and maybe spoil their game. And if you should chance to meet this party again, remember, mum's ...
— Against Odds - A Detective Story • Lawrence L. Lynch
... at sea now, and no one can gossip beyond the walls of the ship. Besides Kettle is far too staunch to talk. He's the sort of man who can be as mum as the grave when he chooses. But if you persist in refusing to trust him, well, I tell you that the thought of what he may be ...
— A Master of Fortune • Cutcliffe Hyne
... midnight should wait At her garden-gate A carriage to carry the dear, precious freight Of Mrs. McNair who should meet Captain Brown At the Globe Hotel in a neighboring town. A man should be hired To convey the admired. And keep mum as a mouse, and do ...
— The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems • H. L. Gordon
... the bridge, but the chill was not gone from the air, and George felt greatly relieved when Sweetwater paused in the middle of a long block before a lofty tenement house of mean appearance, and signified that here they were to stop, and that from now on, mum ...
— Initials Only • Anna Katharine Green
... 'twas, no doubt, When you came to think it out, But the fascinated crowd Their deep surprise avowed And all with a single voice averred 'Twas the most amazing thing they'd heard— All save one who spake never a word, But sat as mum As if deaf and dumb, Serene, indifferent and unstirred. Then all the others turned to him And scrutinized him limb from limb— Scanned him alive; But he seemed to thrive And tranquiler grow each minute, As if there ...
— The Devil's Dictionary • Ambrose Bierce
... himself, not with his tongue, but with his arms and legs— with my body I thee worship, as it says in the marriage service. I begin to understand the old plays and pageants. I see why the mutes at a funeral were mute. I see why the mummers were mum. They MEANT something; and Smith means something too. All other jokes have to be noisy—like little Nosey Gould's jokes, for instance. The only silent jokes are the practical jokes. Poor Smith, properly considered, is an allegorical practical joker. What he has really done ...
— Manalive • G. K. Chesterton
... have a grain of sense in your head. Don't sit there mum-chance, man! Speak up and tell your mother not to be a fool. You are no child; you know your father, and that, if given one chance in a hundred to act perversely, he'll take it as sure as fate. For heaven's sake persuade your mother to use ...
— Hetty Wesley • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... know jes how old I is. Yes mum I show do member the war jes lack as if it was yesterday. I was born in Lincoln County, Georgia. My old mistress was named Frances Sutton. She was a real old lady. Her husband was dead. She had two sons Abraham and George. One of them tried to get old ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume II, Arkansas Narratives, Part 2 • Works Projects Administration
... minds, Mrs. Evan, soon after you'd went (their sore knees, I think, also keepin' them in sight of their doings), and they begged me, Mrs. Evan, wouldn't I mend the stockings, which I would most cheerfully, only takin' the same as not to be your idea, mum. So I says, says I, somebody havin' to be punished, your ma's goin' to do it to take the punishment herself, that is, in lest you do it your own selves instead. So, says I, I'll mend one stocking of each if you do the other, Mrs. ...
— People of the Whirlpool • Mabel Osgood Wright
... was a medley of questions, of explanations, of promises to keep mum and of expressions of heartfelt thanks from the young couple. The professor was the only one who thought it incumbent to scold them for a silly prank and to point out the serious danger in which they had been involved. It sobered them, and at the ...
— The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories • Charles Weathers Bump
... saintship think it meet We drink from well tho' ne'er so sweet, Liquor unworthy priest or parson, If so, your friers will hang an arse on, Who nothing mind, I need not tell ye, Most holy patron, but their belly. So used, they'll ev'ry soul be dumb, No dixit dominus, but ———— mum." ...
— Ebrietatis Encomium - or, the Praise of Drunkenness • Boniface Oinophilus
... like Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted. "Never," such was his language twenty-eight years after his disaster, "never give up or alter a tittle unless it perfectly coincides with your own inward feelings. I can say this to my sorrow and my cost. But mum!" Soon after these words were written, his life, a life which might have been eminently useful and happy, ended in the same gloom in which, during more than a quarter of a century, it had been passed. We have thought it worth while to rescue from oblivion ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 2 • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... most ungrateful mortal on the face of the earth." "What dost say, D'Aubigne?" asked La Force, half asleep. "He says," repeated the King of Navarre, who had heard all, that I am a regular miser, and the most ungrateful mortal on the face of the earth." D'Aubigne, somewhat disconcerted, was mum. "But," he adds, "when daylight appeared, this prince, who liked neither rewarding nor punishing, did not for all that look any the more black at me, or give me a quarter-crown more." Thirty years later, in 1617, after the collapse of the League and after ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... that, at first, a dinner of a hundred, or a hundred and fifty persons, on a hot day, alarmed me; but, the strangeness got over, I rather liked this mode of living, and, as a stranger in a new country, would certainly prefer it to the solitary mum-chance dinner of ...
— Impressions of America - During the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Tyrone Power
... Mum for that; I shall be silent as to that. As mute as Mumchance, who was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any one who seems low-spirited ...
— 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue • Captain Grose et al.
... the Scotties, and the French are all involved in it. Your people, the East Cheshires, are going over at Fusilier Bluff, after we've blown up a huge mine. Their Brigade Bombers are going to occupy the crater. But, of course, mum's the word." ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond
... wants you to just step into the study. He looks like the dead, mum; I think he's had bad news. You'd best prepare yourself for the worst, 'm—p'raps it's a death in the family or ...
— The Railway Children • E. Nesbit
... there, we must make the best of her. I fancy that she was a year or two younger than Wiggs and of rather inferior education. Witness her low innuendo about the Lady Belvane, and the fact that she called a Countess "Mum." ...
— Once on a Time • A. A. Milne
... a perfectly good alibi. Seems, if he dug up anything valuable and got caught at it, he'd have to whack up a percentage with the owner of the land. Also, the government would holler for a share. So his plan is to keep mum, buy up the island, then charter a big yacht and cruise down there casually, disguised as a tourist. Once at the island, he could let on to break a propeller shaft or something, and sneak ashore after the gold and stuff at night ...
— Wilt Thou Torchy • Sewell Ford
... were the little clerk who sat so mum in the corner, and then cried fy on the gleeman. What hast in ...
— The White Company • Arthur Conan Doyle
... I will take particular heed of what you have said, and will be mum as a mouse, until we see ...
— At the Point of the Bayonet - A Tale of the Mahratta War • G. A. Henty
... have their uses, to be sure. Says Kircher: Cunices lectularii potens remedium contra quartanum est, si ab inscio aegro cum vehiculo congrua potentur; mulierum morbis medentur et uterum prolapsum solo odore in mum locum restituunt.] Let him note that most of the inns of this region are quite uninhabitable, for this and other reasons, unless he takes the most elaborate precautions. . ...
— Old Calabria • Norman Douglas
... to see you amongst us, Mrs. Brooke, mum; and hope you'll come again," was heard so often that Lady Alice was quite amazed by the warmth of the greeting. "And the young lady too—where's she? she ought to have been here as well," said one woman; to which Maurice Kenyon responded in ...
— Brooke's Daughter - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... leave without shaking more dust from her feet upon an already burdened household, had become impatient desire by the time I counted out her wages. Yet, here she stands, grim as the sphinx, fixed as Fate, with the inexorable requisition, "Me refrunce, mum!" ...
— The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) • Marion Harland
... the mouth o' the shaft now," said Andy. "They're a-dhraggin' the timbers away; timbers wid the fire in 'em yit. Ye'd be shtartled to see 'em, mum." ...
— Burnham Breaker • Homer Greene
... crowd outside the portico the top-knots of several policemen had appeared. The forces of law and order were trying to elbow their way into the throng. Sh ... h ... h! Tia Picores assumed command. "Back to your stalls, everybody! And mum's the word! Those pretty boys will be in here with their summonses and their papers! Nothing's the matter, remember, everybody, nothing happened at all!" Some one threw a big handkerchief over the bleeding ear of the wounded girl. The women were all ...
— Mayflower (Flor de mayo) • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... I'm a school of sharks when it comes to breakfast," Jock would call back. "Tell Annie to make enough toast, Mum. She's the tightest thing with the ...
— Personality Plus - Some Experiences of Emma McChesney and Her Son, Jock • Edna Ferber
... them the thought of their happiness hung about her all the afternoon and made her very tender and forgiving when the little parlourmaid arrived with a piece of the blue and white china smashed to atoms. "I can't think 'ow it 'appened, Mum. I was just standing...." ...
— Fortitude • Hugh Walpole
... Oliver, mum, just got home from Florida; but I guess he's going somewhere else mum, for he's packing up ...
— The Errand Boy • Horatio Alger
... "'Your husband's, mum,' I made bold to say, thinking to take her down a peg. But, lor'! she didn't care a rush for that, but 'Which o' my husbands?' says she, and laughed fit to bust, and poked the horse-dealer in the side. He looked as if he'd like ...
— The Nebuly Coat • John Meade Falkner
... children, over on the right, there was a general waving of hands, and whispering and tittering; but the eight small beginners held their mouths shut tight and not a sound came from them. Glory Goldie was as mum as ...
— The Emperor of Portugalia • Selma Lagerlof
... poorly. He wor noated far an wide as a dog doctor, an ladies used to come throo all pairts wi ther pet's to ax Sam's advice. Hahivver ugly a little brute chonced to be brawt, Sam had his nomony ready. "A'a, that is a little beauty, mum, aw havn't seen one like that, mum, aw can't say when, mum. Aw dooant think yo'd like to pairt ...
— Yorksher Puddin' - A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the - Pen of John Hartley • John Hartley
... pardon, my lady, Mrs Mostyn," said old Tummus, "I'm as much your gardener as Dan Barnett, mum. What I says I sticks to. He was allus agin' poor John Grange, and if he arn't made an end on him, what I says is this ...
— A Life's Eclipse • George Manville Fenn
... good enough!" she cried out. "A promise ain't good enough! For Gawd's sake, come across all de way! Swear youse'll keep mum an' see ...
— The White Moll • Frank L. Packard
... was a stern expression on his face that made him look like papa. "'Twould take a bigger man than you are to do that, Jack," he said, with a faint smile, adding slowly, "but I'll tell you what you can do,—you can keep mum about this; and now help me upstairs, like a good boy: I'm almost too tired to put one foot after the other." Then, as he rose and slowly straightened himself up, he said, "After all, Phil's only gone ...
— We Ten - Or, The Story of the Roses • Lyda Farrington Kraus
... said, 'Ay, mum's the word'? Sexton to willow: Who said, 'Green duck for dreams, Moss for ...
— Peacock Pie, A Book of Rhymes • Walter de la Mare
... and if they had not been such inveterate home letter-writers—a habit of which we were very contemptuous—it would have saved us boys much good-humoured teasing afterwards, for the matron would have been mum ...
— A Labrador Doctor - The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
... doleful tale, For Twelfth-day now is come, And now I must no longer sing, And say no words but mum; For I perforce must take my leave Of all my dainty cheer, Plum-porridge, roast beef, and minced pies, My ...
— Christmas - Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse • Various
... the bill-of-fare that changed with every day, And when landed in the Army for thirty years I'd stay; But not a word they told me (No wonder they were mum), About the stuff they feed us, commonly known as "Slum"— ...
— Rhymes of the Rookies • W. E. Christian
... have seen him, mum," said the little figure, opening its blue eyes with wonder at the kindness of the tone. ...
— For the Term of His Natural Life • Marcus Clarke
... marm, sit down, an I'll perceed ter divest myself uv w'at little information I've got stored up in my noddle. Ye see, mum, my name's Walsingham Nix, at yer sarvice—Walsingham bein' my great, great grandad's fronticepiece, while Nix war ther hind-wheeler, like nor w'at a he-mule ar' w'en hitched ter a 'schooner.' Ther Nix family were a great one, bet ...
— Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills • Edward L. Wheeler
... front door to "show in" a visitor was in itself so subversive of the fundamental order of things that it had thrown her faculties into hopeless disarray, and she could only stammer out, after various panting efforts at evocation, "His hat, mum, was ...
— The Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton, Part 2 (of 10) • Edith Wharton
... mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked, and had that moment come to, "I have brought you as the compliments of the season—I have brought you, Mum, a bottle of sherry wine—and I have brought you, Mum, a bottle of ...
— Great Expectations • Charles Dickens
... article on the 'Rights of Children.' What do you think about it?" Dennis carried his forefinger to his head in search of an idea, for he is not accustomed to having his intelligence so violently assaulted, and after a moment's puzzled thought he said, "What do I think about it, mum? Why, I think we'd ought to give 'em to 'em. But Lor', mum, if we don't, they take 'em, so what's the odds?" And as he left the room I thought he looked pained that I should spin words and squander ...
— Children's Rights and Others • Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
... no kidding! I'm up for auction; 'oo will start the bidding? First Lady. I want a charlady from ten to four, To cook the lunch and scrub the basement floor. Super-Char. Cook? Scrub? Thanks! Nothink doin'! Next, please! You, Mum, What are the dooties you would 'ave me do, Mum? Second Lady. I want a lady who will kindly call And help me dust the dining-room and hall; At tea, if need be, bring an extra cup, And sometimes do a little washing up. Super-Char. A little bit of dusting I might ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 152, Feb. 7, 1917 • Various
... his hand to the extent of asserting that his Elixir contained 22 ingredients, but added that nobody but himself knew what they were. The dosage was generous, 50 to 60 drops "in a glass of Spring water, Beer, Ale, Mum, Canary, White wine, with or without sugar, and a dram of brandy as often as you please." This, it was said, would cure ...
— Old English Patent Medicines in America • George B. Griffenhagen
... refused us was flabbergasted. "Excuse me a minute, mum!" he muttered, and darted off to return with a young officer before "the Great Somerled" had time to remonstrate. But, instead of devoting undivided attention to the celebrity who must be appeased, the officer looked at me, and we recognized each other. ...
— The Heather-Moon • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... would not give up the prize to Zeke without one decisive effort; and as he was rubbing the cobbler's leg, he stammered, "I say Ezra, will you do me a turn? 'Twon't be so much, what I ask, except that I'll like you to keep mum about it, and you're a good ...
— Taken Alive • E. P. Roe
... right which they have to tax others, and to levy, for instance, four shillings in the pound sterling income-tax, which has just been continued for another year! And all the time taxes on distilled spirits, on the excise of wine and beer, on tonnage and poundage, on cider, on perry, on mum, malt, and prepared barley, on coals, and on a hundred things besides. Let us venerate things as they are. The clergy themselves depend on the lords. The Bishop of Man is subject to the Earl of Derby. The lords have wild beasts of their own, which they place ...
— The Man Who Laughs • Victor Hugo
... Island to the Bonins; and wherever I go that infernal story follows me up. Well, I'll risk it anyhow, and the first chance that comes along I'll cut Kanaka life and drinking ship's rum and go see old dad and mum to home. Here, Tikena, you Tokelau devil, bring me ...
— The Ebbing Of The Tide - South Sea Stories - 1896 • Louis Becke
... mum," says Jack, quite polite-like. "Could you be so kind as to give me some breakfast." For he hadn't had anything to eat, you know, the night before and was as hungry ...
— English Fairy Tales • Joseph Jacobs (coll. & ed.)
... not you. There's something crooked going on in that canyon, an' I know it! But keep mum about what we think." ...
— Bar-20 Days • Clarence E. Mulford
... had taken a lodging there with intent to dazzle the town, and not because his means were equal to it; and already the bill weighed upon him. By nature as cheerful a gossip as ever wore a scratch wig and lived to be inquisitive, he sat mum through the evening, and barely listened while the landlord talked big of his guest upstairs, his curricle and fashion, the sums he lost at White's, and the ...
— The Castle Inn • Stanley John Weyman
... rather of lawless lives, and a past which must be buried in oblivion or acknowledged with shame and perhaps fear. "Fighting-cock," "Torpedo," "Brimstone," and "the Slasher," were among the leaders who dubbed Blair with the title of "Mum," and so saluted him on all occasions. Blair had a very considerable sense of his own dignity, and was by no means pleased with this style of address. Yet he showed his resentment by increased taciturnity rather than by words. Captain Knox and Derry Duck soon found out that Blair Robertson was no ...
— The Boy Patriot • Edward Sylvester Ellis
... into hidden recesses by unscrupulous methods had made him a valuable man for a paper which was willing to ignore certain time-honored traditions of the press. Under editorial stimulus Hughey had blossomed forth among the flowers of the journalistic profession as a yellow chrysanthemum. "Mum" became the word wherever Hughey showed himself! His reputation finally had ostracised him into other fields ...
— Every Man for Himself • Hopkins Moorhouse
... then, that from now till the year is up there shall be no more reference between us to this money, and that we shall go on being good friends as before. Leave it to me to make arrangements to acquit myself honourably of my obligations towards you. I need say no more; till a year's up, mum's the word." ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... retorted Ellen grimly. "She's neither fish, flesh nor fowl. She's taught school; laid out the dead; an' done the Lord only knows what durin' her lifetime. She can turn her hand to most anything; an' they do say she's mum as an oyster, which is a virtue out of the ...
— The Wall Between • Sara Ware Bassett
... cross-examination to begin, according to all precedent, if they were really looking out for themselves. Why didn't they sit up straight and firm, with their hands in their muffs and their eyes on hers, and say with a rising inflection and lips that moved as little as possible,—"What wages, mum?" or "What's the ...
— The Other Girls • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney
... you would. Well, now—come closer. Mum's the word, eh? I like you, Harry Brooks; and the boys in this town "—he broke off and cursed horribly—"they're not fit to carry slops to a bear, not one of 'em. But you're different. And, see here: any time you're in trouble, just pay a call ...
— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... we had better go to our own rooms," said Gif to Phil and Spouter. "And remember, mum is the word," he added for ...
— The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch - The Cowboys' Double Round-Up • Edward Stratemeyer
... comprehend the husband's caution, with the necessity of compliance; and the two retire to rest, in the midst of their black olive branches, with a mutual promise to be "mum." ...
— The Death Shot - A Story Retold • Mayne Reid
... sailing but remember the Atlantic Ocean isn't a one way street. Just chalk that up on the wall, and speaking about oceans don't forget about the water by the woodshed and do what I told you. So now good-bye dear old Mum and don't worry, and I won't go near Paris like you said. Hicksville is good ...
— Roy Blakeley in the Haunted Camp • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... we first visit Miss Honeyman's a gentleman had just applied there for rooms. "Please to speak to mistress," says Hannah, the maid, opening the parlour door with a curtsey. "A gentleman about the apartments, mum." ...
— Boys and girls from Thackeray • Kate Dickinson Sweetser
... besides, it is unnecessary. There are plenty of men to do the talking." "But," said common sense, "I don't see why it's a bit more unladylike than the ladies' colloquy at the lyceum was last evening. There were more people present than are here tonight; and as for the men, they are perfectly mum. There seems to be plenty of opportunity for somebody." "Well," said Satan, "it isn't customary at least, and people will think strangely of you. Doubtless it would do more ...
— Ester Ried • Pansy (aka. Isabella M. Alden)
... debt with the tart-woman; ran out of bounds, and entered into pecuniary, or rather promissory, engagements with the neighbouring lollipop-vendors and piemen—exhibited an early fondness and capacity for drinking mum and sack, and borrowed from all his comrades who had money to lend. I have no sort of authority for the statements here made of Steele's early life; but if the child is father of the man, the father of young Steele of Merton, who left ...
— Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges • William Makepeace Thackeray
... bite, you men of fangs (That is, of teeth that forward hangs), And charge my dear Ephestion With want of meat? you want digestion. We poets use not so to do, To find men meat and stomach too. You have the book, you have the house, And mum, good Jack, and catch ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli
... But be here at four sharp and I'll tell you all about it. See here, boy, 'mum's' ...
— The Story of the Foss River Ranch • Ridgwell Cullum
... loosing the flood gates of his accumulated loneliness. He told how Florette had bidden him "learn to be a li'l gem'mum," and how he really tried; but how silly were the rules that governed a gentlemanly existence; how the other li'l gem'mum laughed at him, and talked of things he had never heard of, and never heard of the things he talked ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 • Various
... clear what he doesn't believe in, 791 While some, who decry him, think all Kingdom Come Is a sort of a, kind of a, species of Hum, Of which, as it were, so to speak, not a crumb Would be left, if we didn't keep carefully mum, And, to make a clean breast, that 'tis perfectly plain That all kinds of wisdom are somewhat profane; Now P.'s creed than this may be lighter or darker, But in one thing, 'tis clear, he has faith, namely—Parker; And this is what makes him the crowd-drawing preacher, 800 There's ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell • James Lowell
... said Lord Grosville, in evident annoyance. "The rascal hadn't a scratch, but Kitty must needs pick him up and drive him home with a nurse. 'I ain't hurt, mum,' says the boy. 'Oh! but you must be,' said Kitty. I offered to take him to his mother and give him half a crown. 'It's my duty to look after him,' says Kitty. And she lifted him up herself—dirty ...
— The Marriage of William Ashe • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... she replied; "his mother is always telling me he has so much mind, and yet he can't say two words; he stands planted before me as mum as a post—" ...
— The Jealousies of a Country Town • Honore de Balzac
... Thou little lambkin dumb, Boni, bonae, boni, For those sweet chops I sigh, Bono, bonae, bono, Have pity on my woe, Bonum, bonam, bonum, Thou speak'st though thou art mum, Bone, bona, bonum, "O come and eat me, come," Bono, bonae, bono, The butcher lays thee low, Boni, bonae, bona, Those chops are a picture,— ah! Bonorum, bonarum, bonorum, To put lots of Tomata sauce o'er 'em Bonis— ...
— The Comic Latin Grammar - A new and facetious introduction to the Latin tongue • Percival Leigh
... my lady; I'll see, if you'll please to walk in," said Martha, a little confused on the score of her kitchen apron, but collected enough to be sure that "mum" was not the right title for this queenly young widow with a carriage and pair. "Will you please to walk in, and I'll ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot
... Caterpillar was struck dumb, And never answered her a mum: The humble reptile fand some pain, Thus to be bantered wi' disdain. But tent neist time the Ant came by, The worm was grown a Butterfly; Transparent were his wings and fair, Which bare him flight'ring through the air. Upon a flower ...
— An Elementary Study of Insects • Leonard Haseman
... "Mum's the word," said the soldier, taking it. "My name's Ned Travers, and, barring cells for a spree now and again, there's nothing against ...
— Captains All and Others • W.W. Jacobs
... fixed his eyes upon her, and after passing his fingers up and down upon the outside of his coat, said, with deliberation, in a husky voice, "No, mum. I'm goin' fur to keep it as long as I live, if it takes two ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 6 • Various
... were about. Mum is asleep, and Fan out, so I loafed down to see if there was any fun afoot," said Tom, lingering, as if the prospect was agreeable. He was a social fellow, and very grateful just then to any one who helped him to forget his worries for ...
— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott
... Alderman, you are deceived; the country party will bring a standing army upon us; whereas, if we chuse my lord and the colonel, we shan't have a soldier in town. But, mum! here are my lord and ...
— Miscellanies, Volume 2 (from Works, Volume 12) • Henry Fielding
... must be bad, but I didn't think it was as bad as that! I don't blame ye for trying to keep it mum! And ye look as though it tasted bitter coming up. I'll not poison me own mouth." He stood up and yanked the man to his feet. "So I'll call ye Bill the Bomber! Where do ye ...
— All-Wool Morrison • Holman Day
... as how the house was too quiet for Mr. Grierson, mum," she wound up. "Having nothing to do hisself, except just write, he seemed to think other folks couldn't be tired and want to go to bed, folks that worked." She emphasised her words with a truly British scorn for those who live by their brains. "I'm sure the hours and hours as I've sat up ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt
... "Mum! Dorothy's just behind us and she has ears all round her head! But we'll do it, yet; either with or without him. It'll be rippin' fun, but if that girl gets wind of it she'll stop ...
— Dorothy on a Ranch • Evelyn Raymond
... untended by the heroine of the celebration; she wondered if Cottingham would tell Papa, and if Papa would tell Mother (thus did this child of the 'eighties speak of her parents, the musical abbreviations of a later day, "Mum," and "Dad," not having penetrated the remoteness in which her home was placed); she also wondered if there would be a row about her getting wet. All these things seemed but too probable, but she was in for ...
— Mount Music • E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross
... young man, no offence," said the landlord in a quite altered tone; "but the sight of your hand—." Then observing that our conversation began to attract the notice of the guests in the kitchen, he interrupted himself saying in an undertone, "But mum's the word for the present; I will ...
— Isopel Berners - The History of certain doings in a Staffordshire Dingle, July, 1825 • George Borrow
... like it, mum," said the boy anxiously. The last glimpse he had had of the skipper's face did not make him yearn to share his bed ...
— Many Cargoes • W.W. Jacobs
... scout; "I have been stationed here, as marshal of the town, to warn people away from the place. You take my advice and go to the creek and plunge in with all your clothes and play for an hour in the water, then dry yourself, go back to camp, and keep mum!" This was the year of the cholera. It started somewhere down south, and many people died from it in the city of St. Louis, and it followed the railway through Kansas to the end of the track. Many soldiers ...
— Tales of Aztlan • George Hartmann
... should have come, For from her eyes a nameless pleasure beamed, Which seemed of all delights to be the sum; She tried to make them cosy interdum, And to their kind enquiries she replied, "I'm bonny in my way, I thank you, Mum, And how's yourselves and those at home beside?" Then to them several little matters ...
— The Minstrel - A Collection of Poems • Lennox Amott
... naughtiness that I care about, but it is the fun of being naughty; it is the fun of having a sort of dangerous thing to do. That is the real joy of it. It is the ecstacy of shocking the prim Alice! Oh! there is her step. She's coming up, the creature! Now then, I had best be as mum as I can unless I want to ...
— The Rebel of the School • Mrs. L. T. Meade
... not at all clear to me, that a people is the more brave, the more they are accustomed to bloodshed in their public entertainments. True bravery is not savage but humane. Some of this sanguinary spirit is inherited by the inhabitants of a certain island that shall be nameless—but, mum for that. You will naturally suppose that the Coliseo was ruined by the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome: in effect, they robbed it of its ornaments and valuable materials; but it was reserved for the Goths ...
— Travels Through France and Italy • Tobias Smollett
... that sort. It's a good wash they want, both for health and comeliness; and I make 'em take it that way. The powder's nought—it's the wash does it, look you: but they'd never do it if I told 'em so. Mum, now! ...
— One Snowy Night - Long ago at Oxford • Emily Sarah Holt
... offence,' said the landlord, in a quite altered tone; 'but the sight of your hand—' then observing that our conversation began to attract the notice of the guests in the kitchen, he interrupted himself, saying in an undertone, 'But mum's the word for the present, I will go and ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... likes having me with him, but still he's as gloomy and as dull as can be. 'T was only yesterday he took me to the works, and you'd ha' thought us two Quakers as the spirit hadn't moved, all the way down we were so mum. It's a place to craze a man, certainly; such a noisy black hole! There were one or two things worth looking at, the bellows for instance, or the gale they called a bellows. I could ha' stood near it a whole day; and if I'd a berth in that place, I should like to be bellows-man, if there ...
— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell
... mighty glad to hear dat; it's likely dat you'll hab to swim for your life one ob dese days. Don't roll your eyes so—I don't mean dat we's going to be wracked. But what I want to say am dat you must keep mum, and don't let on dat you don't know nuffin. Don't act as though you and me was much friends when de rest am 'bout, but you know dat I'm jis' de best one ...
— Brave Tom - The Battle That Won • Edward S. Ellis
... the infant eleven times. He was a man of few words, and he soon got through with them. The first time he said, "E's a good un;" the next time he said, "My word!" the third time he said, "Well, mum," and after that he simply blew enormously each time, scratched his head, and looked at his scales with an unprecedented mistrust. Every one came to see the Big Baby—so it was called by universal consent—and most of them ...
— The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth • H.G. Wells
... though they refused afterwards to make him restitution for the goods which they had taken out of them. Thence to my uncle Wight's, and he not being at home I went with Mr. Norbury near hand to the Fleece, a mum house in Leadenhall, and there drunk mum and by and by broke up, it being about 11 o'clock at night, and so leaving them also at home, went home myself ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... one on earth could have managed him better. You might have known him from the cradle—yours, of course, not his! I'm taking him around to-day. He wants to go to Djenan-el-Maqui, I can see that. But I'm keeping him off it. Lie low and mum's the word as to ...
— The Way of Ambition • Robert Hichens
... former Air Mail pilot sententiously. "Mum's the word; we've got something here, Buddy. Unless I'm greatly mistaken we'll be consulting with the Patent Office at Washington much sooner than little mother anticipates." He poked Paul in the ...
— Around the World in Ten Days • Chelsea Curtis Fraser
... right, mum," said Jim Grimm, "we must make him happy every hour he's with us. Hush, mother! Don't cry, or I'll ...
— Billy Topsail & Company - A Story for Boys • Norman Duncan
... Hiram," said Clancy, "didn't I tell you I'd help you find your father if you'd keep mum about what Lafe ...
— Owen Clancy's Happy Trail - or, The Motor Wizard in California • Burt L. Standish
... outside of Germany. Carlyle first introduced it into English literature in 1827. In a note to the discussion of Goethe in the second edition of German Romance, he speaks of a Philistine as one who "judged of Brunswick mum, by its utility." He adds: "Stray specimens of the Philistine nation are said to exist in our own Islands; but we have no name for them like the Germans." The term occurs also in Carlyle's essays on The State of German Literature, ...
— Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold • Matthew Arnold
... tumbled; nobody'll tumble," Joe assured her, as they climbed the stairs to the second story. "And even if they did, they wouldn't know who it was and they's keep it mum for me. ...
— The Game • Jack London
... mother's leavings, let me tell ye. So you may judge. But what's this Robin to dilly-dally with her daughter, till the gal can't sleep o' nights for wondering will he speak in the morning or will he be mum? And so she becomes worse than no use in kitchen and dairy, and since sickness is catching the maids follow suit. It's all off and on wi' them and their lads. In the morning they will, in the evening they won't. Ah, twas a tarrible life. And all along o' Robin Rue. ...
— Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard • Eleanor Farjeon
... "Oh, lor-a-mussy, yes, mum, you may 'aave my little Norrer an' do what you like wi' her. Bless her heart, I look on Norrer and her brothers to be the comfort o' my old age, but I wunt stan' in their light to interfere wi' what's best for ...
— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell
... stateroom, mum, and 'tis the captain's own. He do be givin' it to you, 'cause ye'r ...
— Marjorie's New Friend • Carolyn Wells
... "I mean that mum's the word at present," was Mrs. Aylmer's mysterious remark. "Help me, Kitty Sharston, like a good girl, and for goodness sake don't make yourself look too pretty to-night. I don't want him to turn his attention to you, I may as ...
— The Time of Roses • L. T. Meade
... was let up he remained convinced that "Da" had done a dreadful thing. Though he did not wish to bear witness against her, he had been compelled, by fear of repetition, to seek his mother and say: "Mum, don't let 'Da' hold me down on my ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... lady; and I should probably have taken no notice of Mr. Pickup, if it had not occurred to me that the old wretch must know her father's name and address. I at once put the question. The Jew grinned, and shook his grisly head. "Her father'sh in difficultiesh, and mum's the word, my dear." To that answer he adhered, in spite of all that I could say ...
— A Rogue's Life • Wilkie Collins
... student, and one of my comrades said to me that, as I was a foreigner, I was probably not aware of what a fault I had committed, but that in future I must not be seen talking to a soldier. To which I, with a terrible wink, replied, "Mum's the word; that soldier is lieutenant of police in my ward, and I have squared it with him all right, so that if there should be a Bierkrawall (a drunken row) in our quarter he will let me go." This, ...
— Memoirs • Charles Godfrey Leland
... all right! I'm mum as an oyster—only keep it up! Get into all the church sociables you can; there's nothing ...
— Other Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland
... man power is getting low at Lindow, I'll stay and take care of Mummy. Won't I? We'll do awfully well without them, won't we, Mum? You can drive Dad's Rolls-Royce roadster, and if you leave on the ...
— Joy in the Morning • Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
... that dog, do you?" he asked, straightening up. "Well, I can tell you if any man can, but you're to keep mum about it to ...
— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith
... into this stunt on the ground floor," went on Logan. "But I will as soon as the turn's over. For all sakes, keep mum while ...
— Winnie Childs - The Shop Girl • C. N. Williamson
... off jauntily, but Clo looked for developments. "Kit's mum, to put Churn off the track," she thought. "But she means to follow him. She's bought no handbag. She can't very well take ...
— The Lion's Mouse • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... whom have we here Tom Tumbler, or else some dancing bear? Body of me, it were best go no near: For ought that I see, it is my godfather Lucifer, Whose prentice I have been this many a day: But no more words but mum: you shall hear ...
— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne
... and I never smashed one in me life! I'll handle it as rivirintly as if it held the relics of a saint, mum. I'm that careful in me worruk. So don't worry ...
— The Ghost Breaker - A Novel Based Upon the Play • Charles Goddard
... I had throttled her the night she described the scene of the murder! But mum; here comes the prisoner. By Jove! how well he looks! how bravely he bears up against his fate! Does not the sight of that proud pale face ...
— Mark Hurdlestone - Or, The Two Brothers • Susanna Moodie
... ''Deed, mum, and 'tis worth it,' replied McIntosh, whose severe face was relaxed in a grimly pleasant manner; 'but losh! 'tis naething tae what 'ull come oot o' the ...
— Madame Midas • Fergus Hume |
